site.btaMigrant Trafficking Ring Busted

Sofia, September 18 (BTA) - A gang involved in trafficking in illegal migrants was broken up in an operation on September 16, it emerged from Saturday's briefing of the State Agency for National Security (SANS), the Chief Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (CDCOC) and the Border Police Chief Directorate. The operation took place in the capital Sofia and the regions of Ruse (on the Danube) and Haskovo (Southern Bulgaria).

CDCOC's Director, Chief Commissioner Kalin Stoyanov, said that seven persons had been arrested as a result of the three agencies' interaction for over a year. Four of them - two Afghan citizens and two Bulgarians - were remanded in custody for 72 hours. The gang's mastermind is an Afghan.

It emerged that many traffickers and migrants apprehended over the past year were linked to the organized group, but the major thrust of the effort was directed
at arresting those at the top of the gang.

Stoyanov also said that the group is believed to have actively impacted the illegal migrant situation in Bulgaria and abroad.

Tsvetan Tsvetanov, head of a SANS Directorate, said the operation was prompted by information about an organized crime group trafficking in migrants across Bulgaria's borders with Turkey and Serbia. SANS was tipped about Afghans and Bulgarians who trafficked mostly in Afghan migrants. The data was made available to CDCOC and the Border Police service and joint teams were set up.

He explained that payments were effected through the four gang members after migrants left the amount demanded for their journey to the next destination with shop owners in Turkey, who transferred the sum when the group reached the chosen destination.

Migrants usually pay between 8,000 and 10,000 euro on leaving Afghanistan for Germany or another West European country close to it, and the sum demanded for trafficking from Turkey to Serbia is about 2,800 euro.

Tsvetanov also said hundreds of helpers were likely to have provided transport and accommodation. Many of them have been arrested in the interior of the country.

SANS, CDCOC and the Border Police service believe that, working jointly with the prosecution office, they will be able to crack down in the next few months on organized crime groups trafficking in Afghan migrants, Tsvetanov said.

Teodora Yonova from the Specialized Prosecution Office, who is supervising the case, told reporters that one of the gang members was a young Bulgarian woman. The pre-trial proceedings against the organized crime group helping illegal migrants were instituted on June 24, 2020. Most groups tend to cross Bulgaria's border with Greece, but some arrive from Turkey, Yonova said. DD